1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to chairs usable by children, and more particularly to a chair of the knock-down type which can easily be assembled and which includes a die-cut back defining a contoured symbol that identifies the chair and the child assigned to it.
2. Status of Prior Art
In kindergartens, playrooms and in other facilities used by children mostly of preschool age, the need exists for chairs in a scale and form that are appropriate to these children. The chairs must be stable and safe in all respects, yet not be too heavy to moved by children.
In a child's development, play performs a vital role; for through play experience a child learns about the structure of different objects and how they function. Thus, a tot, given a play board having apertures therein of different shapes and sizes, and a set of play pieces each having a shape and size that makes it fit into only one of the apertures, in the course of playing with the toy gains an appreciation of form and size relationships.
For children, chairs and tables represent the most fundamental article of furniture, for to eat the child must sit on a chair placed before a table in which food is set, and to play with most toys he must make use of a chair and table for this purpose. Yet while a child will, as a matter of course, observe that both a chair and table have legs which support a seat or a table top, he has no idea of how these structural elements fit together to create an article of furniture. Nor does the child in observing a chair or table having a painted surface have any idea of how this finish is produced.
Playing with a craft toy such as a Lego set teaches a child how structures are created, but not how a commonplace article of furniture, such as a chair, is constructed.
The term "knock-down" furniture refers to chairs or other articles whose unassembled components can be stored in compact shipping boxes, the components being assembled by the purchaser receiving the box. In order, therefore, for furniture to be sold in a knock-down state, it must be possible to put the components together using screws or bolts and simple tools, the components all neatly fitting together. The Dykes U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,154, shows a knock-down chair which can be assembled or disassembled by a child, the components of the chair being color coded and bolted together.
The Beckley U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,995 shows a knock-down chair whose components are held together entirely by screws. The Ratalahti, U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,121, Decurs et al., No. 3,672,723, and Gariepy, No. 3,115,367, show various forms of modular furniture. Design U.S. Pat. No. 322,364 to Smith is of interest, for it shows a child's chair formed of interfitting parts and a back having a heart-shaped cutout.